I heart my new neighborhood

grammar... so bad... head... exploding....

morning in the new house!

us open final in madison square park

overheard in brooklyn, or, i miss magnetic field

Max Sometimes Awakens in the Wrong Body

Drunk guy outside window: Where am I? I know I'm in Brooklyn...
Drunk girl: Yeah, we're in Brooklyn.
Drunk guy: Yeah, but what borough is Brooklyn in?

--Atlantic Avenue

still not as good as the first one i got up there....

Let Me Guess: La Boheme

Hobo #1: You know what, man?
Hobo #2: What's up?
Hobo #1: Yo, I balls out love opera.

--Houston & 1st

it is a fact. (transit museum)

strange happenings on clinton street (august 11)

(the new) adventures in brooklyn

ok i have been bad. i'm sorry. i'm busy. and the groinstrong thing has got me all riled up today.

but i am actually interested in keeping the adventures going. so rather than write when i don't have anything to say, i'm going to keep things photo-based for a while. let's see how it goes.

today's entry: when there are no bike racks, you get creative.

best weekend ever!

new orleans

it being the third anniversary of katrina, i thought y'all might like to scan my pictures from my trip to new orleans last year at halloween. it was still pretty f'ed up. but it was encouraging to see signs of life and children playing and laughing. they're working hard. you get thirsty when you work hard.

guerrilla subway advertising

shouldering the load

last night i moved one of the last loads from my old place to my new place with a filled backpack traveling by bicycle.

lesson learned: don't move heavy bottles of cooking oil and liquor on your bicycle.

my shoulders hurt.

also, my coworker needs to stop listening to jesus christ superstar.

i'm feelin a little crazy today

dang.

No nuns on catwalk, priest stops "beauty contest"

ROME (Reuters) - An Italian priest who had planned an online "pageant" for nuns has suspended the project, saying he was misinterpreted and had no intention of putting sisters on a beauty catwalk.

"My superiors were not happy. The local bishop was not happy, but they did not understand me either," Father Antonio Rungi told Reuters by telephone from his convent in southern Italy Tuesday.

"It was not at all my intention to put nuns on the catwalk," said Rungi, a priest of the Passionists religious order, speaking from his convent in the town of Mondragone.

Rungi's idea appeared in newspapers around the world after he wrote of a contest for nuns on his blog, called by some "Sister Italy 2008."

"It was interpreted as more of a physical thing. Now, no-one is saying that nuns can't be beautiful, but I was thinking about something more complete," he said.

He said his concept for the contest, in which nuns would vote for themselves on his blog, would include attributes such as their spirituality, social awareness, charity and other qualities.

Rungi wrote in his blog that his intention was to show "the interior beauty" of a nun and the work she does for the Church and for society, mostly in education and health care.

"We have to draw more attention to the world of nuns, who are often not sufficiently appreciated by society," he wrote, adding that he had hoped his initiative would help boost sagging vocations to religious lie.

"Many monasteries in Italy are dying because of a lack of religious vocations," he wrote.

Rungi said he received a lot of calls of support but also many sharp emails by people who attacked him for wanting to create a Miss Italy-style event.

"Some of them were really nasty," he said.

best august ever?

you guys! am i wrong? is this not the most beautiful august ever in new york? when i think of august i think of clothes soaked in sweat and disgusting humidity and angry subway riders and smelly piles of garbage.

but this august has been beautiful! lots of fun thunderstorms to keep the humidity down and gorgeous days. there's still lots of smelly garbage and angry subway riders though. and i was among them this morning! it took me forever to get to work when the stupid F train stopped dead short of delancey.

it's a beautiful august but it would be much more pleasant if the mets would stop blowing SEVEN RUN LEADS!!!!! hello, boys, stop that please. i mean really.

BEE! BEE IN THE CAR!

NUNS ARE HOT!

Priest to hold nun beauty pageant

Internet users will be able to choose their favourite nun from photographs

An Italian priest says he is organising the world's first beauty pageant for nuns to erase a stereotype of them as being old and dour.

Antonio Rungi says The Miss Sister Italy online contest will start on his blog in September.

"Nuns are above all women and beauty is a gift from God," he told Italy's Corriere della Sera newspaper.

He is asking nuns to send their photos to him, saying that internet users will then choose the winner.

Father Rungi stressed that nuns were not being invited to parade in bathing suits, saying it will be up to them whether they pose with the traditional veil or with their heads uncovered.

"This contest will be a way to show there isn't just the beauty we see on television but also a more discreet charm," the priest, who lives near the southern city of Naples, told the Corriere della Sera.

"You really think all nuns are old, stunted and sad? This isn't the case anymore," he said, pointing out that many young nuns had arrived to Italy from around the world.

He added that the idea of staging such a contest had been suggested by nuns themselves.

moving day: pros and cons.

pro: moving out of a noisy, dirty apartment into the third story of a magnificent brownstone with fantastic housemates.

con: my back hurts. a lot.

pro: fun times with a good friend moving together.

con: $115 ticket for double parking at 10 am on a sunday. m.f.ers.

pro: nice van rental man saving us that amount by giving us a business rental.

con: screaming match with man who stole my gas grill from the curb while we were moving the van after getting the ticket. (pro: got it back.)

pro: trip to ikea.

con: trip to ikea.

pro: resting while friend drives back from jersey.

con: three parter - 1) sunday summer traffic entering holland tunnel 2) commercial vehicles not allowed in said tunnel 3) having to turn around and go through staten island.

pro: getting time with kathryn after long weekend.

con: with traffic, time together begins at 11:30 pm.

pro: acupuncture after work tonight.

con: work beforehand.

ah, thank you, google image search

monkey! in japan!

update: auto-play embedded videos are stupid.

a monkey was hanging out in a train station and escaped the dragnet. pretty awesome.

video is now here.

that's one way to increase traffic. thanks natalie dee!

what else is awesome?

ME. i am awesome. let me tell you how awesome i am.

i think i am a little tired from playing in the ocean all weekend.

today i took the mail out on my way to get to some rice and beans for lunch.

also i took a deposit with about $8000 in checks that was supposed to go to the bank.

i stopped at the mailbox and dropped it all in.

uh oh...

the deposit wasn't supposed to go in there!

so about 10 minutes before the 3 PM pickup i went down to stake out the mailbox. i wish it had been a steak out, that sounds far more delicious.

after an hour the mailman came and opened it up. he said i could look through the mail ONCE.

and i found it!

and now i get to keep my job!

see how awesome i am?

damn it.

fire island is awesome

dare to visit the island of fire!

i am going to fire island this weekend. i figure my tan has suffered over the past couple of months having skin cancer, so now i have to compensate. kidding!

no really though i am super excited to get out of town. i've never been there and i am thrilled.

but for now i am insanely busy. back to work!

well, that was fun.

i hate myspace. all the spam messages and flashing annoying profiles. yeah, it's a good place for bands. true enough. given my dislikes, it took me a long time to get on facebook.

but i was pleasantly surprised. other than the constant application requests, facebook is not too bad a place to park my online keester.

but today i was inundated with spam posts on my wall. anyone else? so not cool.

proven wrong

ok i guess i should read the news before i judge - turns out phelps threw his goggles aside because they had leaked and he swam the race BLIND and he wasn't excited because HE COULDN'T SEE.

DAMN YOU MICHAEL WHY DO YOU HAVE TO BE SO GOOD?!?!?

Olympic-sized disgust

After watching the Mets game last night and being pleasantly surprised when the bullpen did NOT blow a lead, Kathryn and I switched over to catch the Olympics. The women were just heading into the pool and Phelps' chance at the most gold medals ever was coming up. What splendid timing! We watched as the announcers tried to will the American out of fourth place - "she's pressing now and trimming down the lead" - no wait, she's a full body length behind. Oh well.

Phelps headed to the line and the commentary moved to gloating. "Watch at the third turn, he'll make the rest of the field look like boys." And he did. He set another world record (yawn - see slate.com's article on the boring world of swimming world records). More importantly, he had himself the most gold. Ever.

And what was his reaction? As his family wept in the stands, he tossed his hat and goggles aside, looking distracted and even a little disappointed - a far cry from his vein-popping celebration after the men's relay. Why wasn't he more excited? The announcer explained that Phelps was hoping to finish under 1:52 and had just missed it. Even though he set a world record.

What kind of athletic culture have we bred, that setting a world record and having the most gold medals ever isn't enough? Maybe I just don't understand because my sports career highlights are beating a girl in a badminton tournament (she was really good), my junior varsity baseball career (O for O with two walks, three stolen bases and two runs) and an undefeated season in college intramural softball (ok that was actually pretty awesome).

I just can't imagine not being able to celebrate such an incredible achievement because you didn't break the world record BY ENOUGH. Am I in the wrong for not being competitive enough? Am I the only one sickened as 16 year olds destroy their bodies - the announcer can't understand why "her knee injuries just won't go away."

Don't get me wrong, I love the Olympics.

Four years ago I was in Kenya and watched lots of handball and endless qualifying heats for track and field events. When a Kenyan finished a qualifier in first place, it was front page news. My time in Nairobi was less than pleasant - robbed blind by both thieves and the police, homeless and stuck in a seedy motel where I fell asleep to screams and gunshots and the pounding bass of the all night reggae club downstairs.

But you know what? I would love to be there again, if only to celebrate the glory of these incredible athletes, rather than see standards set so high that it becomes, as I believe they say on The Simpsons, "glorious gold, so-so silver and shameful bronze."

i am humbled.

i'm getting pretty good at guitar hero. i just finished my first song on expert. i thought i was pretty awesome. i guess not.

wanna work out? why yes. yes i do.

Forget about jogging round the block, the NHS says

'Sexercise yourself into shape'

The NHS has some new advice for people struggling to schedule a fitness routine into their daily lives - a workout between the sheets.

According to the NHS Direct website, "sexercise" can lower the risk of heart attacks and helps people live longer.

Endorphins released during orgasm stimulate immune system cells, which also helps target illnesses like cancer, as well as wrinkles, it states.

Sexual health experts said such claims could not be scientifically proven.

"It's good to see the NHS are promoting sexual wellbeing," Dr Melissa Sayer told the Guardian newspaper.

"Yes, there is evidence that sex has benefits for mental wellbeing, but to say there is a link with reduced risk of heart disease and cancer is taking the argument too far."

NHS Direct, however, told the paper the content was "backed by science and clinical evidence" and "isn't just a bit of fun".

'Regular romps'

The advice, published under the headline "Get more than zeds in bed", is one of several sexual health-related articles to be found on the NHS Direct website.

Sex with a little energy and imagination provides a workout worthy of an athlete, the article says.

If you're worried about wrinkles - orgasms even help prevent frown lines from deepening NHS Direct

"Forget about jogging round the block or struggling with sit-ups.

"Sex uses every muscle group, gets the heart and lungs working hard, and burns about 300 calories an hour."

The advice suggests "regular romps this winter" could lead to a better body and a younger look.

Increased production of endorphins "will make your hair shine and your skin smooth," it adds.

"If you're worried about wrinkles - orgasms even help prevent frown lines from deepening."

The article goes on to say that orgasms release "painkillers" into the bloodstream, which helping keep mild illnesses like colds and aches and pains at bay.

The production of extra oestrogen and testosterone hormones "will keep your bones and muscles healthy, leaving you feeling fabulous inside and out".

come on feel the illinoise

presenting the winner of the illinois state fair hog calling contest.
the first ever female winner!

omg you guys

i just did like the funnest thing ever.

i opened up my iphoto library - pictures from may 2004 to today.

i got the first picture - around a campfire in malawi - and then i held the forward button.

MY WHOLE LIFE FLASHED BEFORE ME!!! IT WAS SO CRAZY!!!

well by my whole life i actually mean four years. but that is a long time!

there are lots and lots of pictures i would love to share with you but this time through two caught my eye. the first is from the new chicago public library.


this one is from the second to last night at magnetic field. i loaned my camera to lee to catch the last few shows and hadn't gone through them until tonight. sorry william.

new house!

i am moving over the next couple of weeks and i am SO excited. you'll get to see lots of pictures as i get things ready. i'm moving into the top floor of a carroll gardens brownstone. parlor with a grand piano, dining room for 10, patio, roof access and two wonderful housemates.

first things first, though. the room i'm moving into used to be a teenage girl's room. it could use a little TLC. the door has got to go. full door and detail:

i miss minnesota. sort of.

Cops follow Cheetos trail to nail burglar suspects

ST. PAUL - St. Paul police followed a trail of Cheetos in order to nab three teenagers suspected of burglarizing a vending machine. Officers were called to the Arlington Recreation Center on July 29, where they found a vending machine's glass had been broken with a chair.Most of the candy and chips were missing, according to a criminal complaint in Ramsey County District Court.

The officers followed the orange, dusty trail from the rec center, around the side of the building and to a nearby home. Inside, they found numerous vending-sized bags of Cheetos and other snacks.

Police arrested three males aged 17, 18 and 19 who soon arrived at the home by car. The two adults are charged with third-degree burglary, while the 17-year-old is charged with criminal damage to property.

All three denied being involved, the complaint says.

Dude. Not cool. (morning crankiness)

Not cool: kanye west's egomaniacal mta ads. I think they're for absolut vodka. The last thing I need in the morning is a sign telling me I can take two Be Kanye tablets and "feel famous on the outside.". Disgusting.

Not cool: the bicyclist on 14th street last night. Fine you can bike on the sidewalk even if you shouldn't. I do it sometimes too. But really? DO YOU REALLY NEED AN AIRHORN? OK maybe given the lack of compassion shown by NYC drivers, it's not a bad idea. But YOU WERE ON THE SIDEWALK. Come on old man! Pedestrians can see you. You do not need an airhorn for sidewalk biking!

Not cool: you know who you are, lady. I was walking off the train at the 23rd street stop, tired and achy and still wanting to be on vacation. I walked in a straight line towards the exit turnstiles, heading towards my usual exit. I guess you had somewhere more important to be, huh? You couldn't dip in front of me or pause for a moment and slip behind. No, you raised your right elbow, gave me a solid shove in the ribs and pushed me aside to access the next turnstile over.

I know you can be a little harsh sometimes, but please, New York City, don't ever grind me down to the point where I feel it necessary to push my fellow denizens aside with such utter disregard. They say to live in New York City but not so long that it makes you hard, and to live in California but not so long that it makes you soft. I've done both plus Minnesota...

So I guess that would make me soft, hard and extremely cold.

email: good. phones: bad.

ok our email issues are resolved. but now our phones are down for the second time this week! it's been nearly all day and it seems like they're finally working again... but i don't trust them yet.

nobody panic!

my company uses google apps to run the email for our domain.

and now it looks like aol's servers have identified all mail from google's corporate servers as spam, so nothing is going back and/or forth!

everyone panic!

I am the keymaster!

You guys! I just picked up the key to my new apartment. Awesome! Oh my god it is so beautiful.. Pictures soon!

tattoos

i saw lots of faded tattoos last night. kiss army. crosses. stars. thinning hair, a beer gut and too much makeup are such great complements to an old spiderweb on the shoulder.

but i didn't see anything close to this. wow.

judas priest at the hard rock!

crack mammoth, rudest least

wow, my adventures have fallen off the face of the earth!

and now i'm busy coming back from a week-long vacation.

here are some pictures!

i'm going to a secret/not so secret show tonight.

the band's names rhyme with the post title.

and by rhyme, i mean only sort of rhyme.

who are the people in my neighborhood?

yes hannah, this is around the corner from my house.

real world red hook?

for those of you who may not depend entirely on a friend's blog for their news, it looks like real world brooklyn will be set in red hook. boooooooo! way to ruin yet another rough and tumble brooklyn neighborhood. first IKEA, now MTV. dammit.

senegal: number one!

in francophone scrabble? and they have their own song?

Dakar Rallies Scrabble Contenders

By Piers Edwards BBC News, Dakar

Senegal may conjure up images of the singer Youssou N'Dour, the Dakar rally or perhaps the football team's successful 2002 World Cup display.

Yet for Ndongo Sylla, his home nation is just another word that can be rearranged in different ways - whether that be 'agneles' (lambed), 'glanees' (gleaned), 'langees' (nappies) or 'sanglee' (strapped).

Sylla, 29, is that Senegalese rarity - a world champion - whose titles have come in Scrabble, a board game where competitors score points by forming words from individual lettered tiles.

Scrabble champion Ndongo Sylla is an advisor to the Senegalese president

He is competing in the 37th Francophone Scrabble World Championships, which are taking place in Senegal this week.

Some 600 competitors have travelled from 21 countries to the capital, Dakar, where they face the task of beating the hosts.

In 2000, Ndongo Sylla and his partner, Arona Gaye, became the first Africans to take a world title when they won the Pairs section.

Since then, Senegal's standing has improved to the point where it took three of the four titles on offer at last year's world championships in Canada - not bad for a country with a 40% literacy rate.

National priority

To say Scrabble is taken seriously in Senegal is an understatement.

The Sports Ministry now gives it the same importance as football, and has declared the championships - which have their own song - a national priority.

Advertisement

Senegal's scrabble song

Meanwhile, Sylla's new fame has helped propel him to work for President Abdoulaye Wade as an economic advisor.

"When your CV says you are a world Scrabble champion, that can be impressive for potential employers," Sylla says.

"I first met Wade in 2000 in Paris where I was studying economics", he adds. "I was Senegal's Scrabble champion and said I would soon be a world champion, and Wade said he would give me full support if I was. The next month, I did win."

"Since then, Wade has done plenty for Scrabble which is now at the forefront of Senegalese sport", says Sylla.

Training camp

In fact, the game is the West African nation's most successful - with Senegal boasting nine world titles.

Scrabble is a religion here. Nowhere else in the world can you find such excitement and dedication to the game. French World Champion, Antonin Michel

And nothing has been left to chance as they host the championships, with the local players even undergoing a 10-day training camp.

President Wade believes Senegal's successes in beating the French at their own language reveals the nation's untapped potential - although France's sole reigning world champion is keen to address that.

"Incredibly, I was the only non-Senegalese to win in Quebec last year," says 31-year-old Antonin Michel.

"So I have huge pressure on my shoulders. But I'm pretty confident that six or seven of us can compete with the Senegalese.

"It's fairly simple why they are so good", says Michel.

"Scrabble is a religion here. Nowhere else in the world can you find such excitement and dedication to the game. After all, this is the first place where I have seen street vendors selling Scrabble."

Spectator sport?

So perhaps it is unsurprising that the championships are being televised.

But since games are played in near silence as participants decide how to best use their letters, Scrabble is an awful spectator sport - which might explain why the devoted competitors greatly outnumber spectators.

Top players learn about 50, 000 words

"We live in St Martin in the Caribbean, close to Guadeloupe and Martinique, and we have come over with people from both islands," says Dr Ribeau, an elderly French expatriate.

"The championships are a great way to meet Francophones from all over the world."

Guinea's Moussa Diasso agrees. "I love Scrabble because it's a game where I can improve my French," he says, adding that he hopes to raise Scrabble's profile back in his home country.

Having travelled from Africa, Europe and North America, the competitors are not just united by their love of Scrabble - which they take extremely seriously - but also by a shared desire to travel and meet people.

Master the dictionary

Of course, they also want to demonstrate their mastery of French, and the leading players go to mind-boggling lengths to finish on top.

"To be a world champion, you need to master 98-99% of the dictionary," says Michel. "I'm learning the words themselves, not their meanings, so that I can play any word during matches. Players like me master 50,000 words."

To put that into context, a university professor's vocabulary is believed to extend to around 15,000 words.

Yet Francophone Scrabble players must now also know various words from the Senegalese dialect, Wolof, with 14 words having made it into the game's official dictionary - such as 'thiof' (a local fish) and 'xalam' (lute).

"It gives us pride to see our Wolof words accepted," says Sylla.

It may also give the Senegalese an edge over their international rivals.

a much-needed service.

New Service Helps Callers Avoid Awkward Cell-Phone Moments

NEW YORK (AP) -- The old song had it right: Breaking up is hard to do. But a free new phone service called Slydial might make it easier to get through that and other awkward moments -- without actually having to talk to anyone.

A new service lets you leave a cell-phone voice message without -- horrors! -- actually talking to someone.

Slydial lets you connect directly with another person's cell phone voice mail, bypassing the traditional ringing process that often results -- sometimes disastrously -- with someone picking up on the other end.

Users call (267) SLY-DIAL from either a cell phone or a landline, and are prompted to enter another person's cell phone number.

After playing a short advertisement -- unless users pay a subscription fee or 15 cents per call to skip ads -- Slydial puts callers directly into their target's voice mail.

Recipients should then get a voice mail notification, and sometimes they will see a caller's number show up as a missed call, too.

Gavin Macomber, co-founder of MobileSphere Ltd., the Boston-based communications company behind Slydial, thinks it can be useful not only in the dating scene, but also in the hectic business world.

"Everybody has gone through the scenario where they've called somebody and just hoped they got voice mail so they didn't have to have a conversation," he said.

Indeed, Nora Rubinoff, 45, who runs an administrative support company, At Your Service Cincinnati Ltd., has found Slydial helpful both for business and personal situations. She has left reminder messages for people one of her clients intends to interview.

And when her husband travels to a different time zone for work, she can leave him a Slydial message without disturbing him at an odd time of day, she said.

"It's been really handy," she said.

Macomber said the idea for Slydial came up while MobileSphere developed the voice mail routing component of a service meant to lower the cost of international roaming on cell phones.

The company rolled out a private test phase of Slydial in March, and has added about 5,000 users since then. The service opened to the general public in a "beta" testing phase on Monday.

The ability to call straight into someone's voice mail is not new. Most major cell phone carriers offer subscribers the option of sending voice messages to other people, but usually only to customers of the same wireless company. What's different here is that Slydial makes it possible to do it with any major wireless carrier's customer.

There are constraints to this service. It can only be used in the U.S. right now, and generally won't work with prepaid cell phones. Also, sly dialers must have the caller ID feature activated on their phones, which Macomber said is meant, in part, to prevent people from using it to harass people undetected.

It's also not always super sly. Several test calls between cell phones made the recipient's phone emit an abbreviated ring before leading to voice mail. That might make people think the person on the other end really wanted to speak -- and could result in a quick call back. Horror of horrors: A real conversation might ensue after all.

r.i.p. estelle getty

we are the world. karaoke style.

600th post!

hey everybody! it's hot and humid and gross and i'm like dang, i feel like shit. i think i'm in withdrawal from months of painkillers. withdrawal is awesome!

YES!!!!

check out capuchin monk brother cesare.

a.k.a. brother metal.

GIVE ME MY COFFEE

Daytona Beach cop fired for demanding free coffee

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - An internal affairs report says a Daytona Beach police officer demanded free coffee and tea from a Starbucks and threatened employees with slower emergency response times if they refused.

Lt. Major Garvin, a 15-year veteran, was fired July 8. According to the Daytona Beach News-Journal, Chief Mike Chitwood says Garvin recently failed a polygraph test that he insisted on taking.

The coffeehouse's employees claim that since June 2007, Garvin had visited the store as many as six times a night while on duty. Besides demanding free drinks, workers complained that Garvin also cut in front of paying customers.

A telephone listing for Garvin could not be found.

poor oblivious security guard.

can you see what it says behind him?

many thanks to the usa today.

A Michigan man wore a T-shirt that said "World's Greatest Dad" when he went to have sex with someone he thought was a 14-year-old girl, officials tell the Detroit Free Press.

Daniel Allen Everett "allegedly engaged in graphic sexual conversation with an undercover agent and propositioned the agent, who was posing as a 14-year-old girl, to meet him for sex," prosecutors say in a statement issued Tuesday. "This afternoon, Everett was arrested in Novi where he is alleged to have appeared to meet the minor for sex. He was arrested wearing a T-shirt with the words, 'Worlds Greatest Dad' on the front, a sad reminder that Internet predators come from all walks of life."

Everett, a 33-year-old who chatted online as "danmichelle2004," was charged yesterday with child sexual abuse and using the Internet to attempt sexual abuse.

Prosecutors tell the Free Press, a fellow Gannett publication, that they don't know if he has any children.

little girls in braids.

good morning. i am SUPER tired today. i was up late playing rock band. DAMN i can ROCK OUT! except on drums, drums are impossible.

this morning the talent agency next door is auditioning little children.

as i unlocked the door to our office, a girl was reading her script: "mother, i want to go to the mountains to see grandfather. i want to smell the fresh air."

then her mom said, GET IT TOGETHER YOU DON'T KNOW YOUR LINES.

it's going to be a great show, i can tell.

sad.

hi blog. i miss you. i'm real busy!

hmmmm

did you ever look at the stars.... on WEED?

did you ever try and do your work.... on PAINKILLERS?

i am at work and stoned out of my mind on painkillers to kill my horrendous crushing headaches.

guess what? i'm not getting a whole lot done.

man.... this is a really comfortable chair.

way funnier than beheaded rabbits

KEEP YOUR RABBITS SAFE!!!

Rabbit Ripper Shocks Germany

Seventy-four-year-old Elfriede Dumont invites me into her back garden.

Small and neat, there are little fir trees dotted around the lawn, tubs of flowers on the terrace and rows of firewood stacked neatly by the fence.

Rabbit owners in Witten and Dortmund are worried about their pets

There used to be a rabbit hutch, too, at the end of the garden. But not any more.

"One morning, when I came out to feed my rabbits, I was surprised to see that the hutch door was open," recalls Elfriede.

"I looked inside and saw Rocco just lying there. His head was missing. A little later I found Felina in the bushes. She'd been killed, too. I just cannot understand why."

Rocco and Felina are among the 30 pet rabbits killed in the towns of Witten and Dortmund since last summer.

Many of the rabbits have been decapitated and the blood drained from their bodies.

Deadly discovery

It is one of the most shocking cases of animal cruelty that Germans can remember.

Some Germans have put their rabbits in hiding

"I would never expect something to happen here," says Elfriede's granddaughter, Sabrina.

"This place is so quiet. You can leave your car open and everything's fine. Yet there are people who murder rabbits!"

Sabrina tells me about another incident. She says dead rabbits were discovered in the sandpit of a local school.

"The rabbits were there without any heads and the children found them in the morning while playing in the playground. That's even more horrible than finding them in your own garden."

Down at the police station, officer Volker Schuette shows me disturbing photographs of headless pet rabbits. A gruesome pattern is emerging.

Elfriede Dumont cannot understand the motive for killing her pets

"It's always the same," Officer Schuette explains. "Detectives find the rabbit lying dead in a hutch. An unknown person has cut off the head and drained off the blood in a box or a bottle. So we find no blood and no head."

Police fear the attacker could switch from killing rabbits to killing people.

They have set up a special task force to try to track down the killer.

Satellite spy

They are examining rabbit torsos for possible traces of DNA and they have questioned 300 people. But police admit they still have no idea who is decapitating the rabbits and why.

It is also unclear how the killer has been locating his victims.

Most of the beheaded pets were hidden from public view, locked away in back yards or back gardens.

It has raised the possibility that the killer has been using satellite images on the internet to find houses with rabbit hutches.

Police admit they have no idea who might be carrying out the crimes

On the edge of Witten, rabbit owner Julia Perkun unlocks her new rabbit pen.

She has installed so many locks and latches, it is like a Fort Knox for rabbits.

Inside the enclosure, Julia introduces me to her 13 rabbits which are scurrying across the straw and nibbling at their vegetable breakfast.

Among them are fluffy white Reebok, and Samson, who has big brown ears right down to the ground.

Julia says she chose this remote spot in a forest to keep her rabbits, so that they would be well hidden from the rabbit killer. She asks me not to reveal the exact location.

"This place isn't visible from the street," says Julia, "and I try not to tell anyone where this place is. People know that I have rabbits, but I don't tell anyone where this place is, so I hope my rabbits are safe."

Fear is driving German rabbit-owners to hide their pets away in the woods, like Julia, or in their garages, or in cellars.

The pet rabbits of the Ruhr Valley are being forced to go to ground, while the killer is still at large.

feist and juana molina!

the adventurous week continues!

free tix to avenue q last night - in the fourth row!

and tonight i was planning on a quiet night at home.

but then i was just offered a ticket to the sold-out show in prospect park tonight! feist and juana molina! you probably all know feist from ipod commercials and such, but here's a cool bio of juana molina.

An excellent question.

Holy shit!

Fourth row center!

who just got free tickets to avenue q tonight?

THIS GUY!

THIS IS A REAL STORY!

BERLIN (AFP) - A desperate German woman finally called emergency services to rescue her after a friend visited her and talked for 30 hours straight, authorities said Tuesday.

A police spokesman in the western city of Speyer confirmed reports about the case, in which the guest rambled on about personal problems and became increasingly intoxicated until the 48-year-old dialed the emergency hotline.

"After an unbelievable 30 hours and failed attempts to encourage the guest to leave last Saturday, the woman did not know what else to do but to call an ambulance," the police said.

When the paramedics refused to carry the guest out of the apartment, the woman called the police, who picked up the friend and drove her home.

The spokesman said the guest would face no criminal charges.

pirates of the mta

i take the bus often.

that statement may be anathema to some new yorkers. some of those same people are even my friends!

but for certain routes, buses fill the gaps in subway service. from 34th and broadway to 34th and 1st ave is way too far to walk given my cane-laden existence. so i take the bus to physical therapy.

and today, i got a taste of why my friends hate the bus.

mid-queue, a man with a patch over one side of his glasses screamed AAAHHHHHRRRR in a somewhat pirate-like manner and yelled at some shoppers who had bumped into him. if you've ever stood in the shadow of the enormous macy's at 34th street, you'll understand that a little jostling at the intersection is inevitable. saying it's crowded there is like saying lots of people live in india. it's an understatement.

not all folks with patches are pirates, and not all folks with patches are insane. but this man was pushing the envelope on the latter.

later, on the bus, he looked at a woman chatting on her cell phone, pointed a shaky, wizened finger and began to scream.

TURN THAT OFF RIGHT NOW! DO YOU SEE THE RULES? IT SAYS NO RADIOS! THAT PHONE EMITS MICROWAVES!

YOU ARE KILLING US ALL!


now that i think about it, i've seen much crazier people at far more regular intervals in and out of the subway. so i would say it's unfair to blame the bus system for my encounter with this aged urban pirate.

at it again

hi kids! have a good fourth? i did. after a four day weekend, i'm crazy busy. here's something for you to watch and enjoy.

our friends at improv everywhere are at it again!

thailand

have you been there? me neither. but my friend ameet has. he is an absolutely phenomenal photographer. you really should look at his pictures. click below to check them out!

fancy new bike lanes!

the art of translation. except not.

starting the week with spiders on drugs.

wall-e

i love animation. i just saw kung fu panda last weekend, which was amazingly awesome. in particular, i love pixar's movies. they are fantastically good storytellers. i watch their movies with wide-eyed wonder and feel like i am five years old again. and that is true magic.

and now we have the newest pixar movie, wall-e.

i don't know if you've read any reviews yet, but i've read a few.

check out the summaries from radar online:

"Some day, there will be college courses devoted to this movie." —New York Post

"WALL-E has become 2008's first perfect film..." —Hollywood Chicago

"I must drop my inhibitions about dropping the M word -- especially since I've already used magnificent -- and call WALL-E the masterpiece that it is." —Wall Street Journal

"The idea that a company in the business of mainstream entertainment would make something as creative, substantial and cautionary as WALL-E has to raise your hopes for humanity." —Washington Post

"Enough to restore your sense of wonder not only in movies, but in the universe as well." —MetroMix.com

"The first hour of Wall-E is a crazily inventive, deliriously engaging and almost wordless silent comedy of the sort that Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton used to make." —NPR

"Mixing Chaplinesque delicacy with the architectural grandeur of a Stanley Kubrick film..." —Globe and Mail

"Daring and traditional, groundbreaking and familiar, apocalyptic and sentimental, Wall-E gains strength from embracing contradictions that would destroy other films." —Los Angeles Times

"It can hardly be called a children's film, but a masterpiece of feature-film animation for all ages." —TV Guide

"One of the best movies of the year. Just so beautifully done." —Richard Roeper

I WILL SEE YOU AT THE THEATER ON SUNDAY!!!!

this makes me smile considerably.

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

txt me l8r

i thought i texted a lot. but i guess not. hannah, this is for you.

15-year-old girl sends 15,000 texts a month

CANTON, Ohio --

A 15-year-old Stark County girl is very competitive: she gets good grades, plays sports and also has a natural talent at cell phone texting.Each month, she sends and receives thousands of messages. Paige Horne plays volleyball and basketball for her high school and her GPA is above 3.0.But Paige has another talent. She can text message someone faster than you can blink an eye. She averages about 15,000 texts a month.

She didn't know about her hidden talent until she went to the cell phone store to get her phone fixed."When I went to the store to get my phone fixed, he told me the reason it might be dead because that many text messages," said Horne.Just like LeBron James with a no-look pass, she can even text without looking."I just don't look. I guess I had the phone a long time and I just know where the buttons are and I just hit them," she said.Her texting does have a curfew, however: On school nights, the phone is shut off at 9 p.m. Her phone plan has unlimited texting included.

deli magazine!

the deli is not only a new york institution. it's also a music magazine.

check out one of their recent features! it's an interview by lauren piper! about my band!

Luff stuff that muffs by Lauren Piper Luff delivers dynamic, post-rock tunes that merge sonic pieces of sound with vibrating bass and heavy distortion. Their recent album’s title track, “Blanket Ice,” fills the speakers with warm and clanging drums as Sheila Sobolewski’s chilling female vocals whisper gently overtop. Both instinctual instrumental sections and brilliant vocal melodies keep the songs exciting and scenic feeling. “Parachutes and Propellers” shows off the band’s skills at blending and layering their instruments from deep bass riffs to lighter, more celestial elements of guitar and electronic texture. Melding styles reminiscent of Mogwai and the experimental influences of Sonic Youth, Luff brings together a swaying, ambient sound with unique vocals and deeper, distorted aspects of drum and bass. Definitely check this band out, the music is peaceful and capturing but still testing out the waters of unpredictability. If each member of your band could be a super hero, what would your powers and names be? Jonah: What do you mean &quotif" we were superheroes? Superpowers are a pre-requisite for being in the band. You have to like Yo La Tengo first, and then you have to demonstrate some magnificent display of your power, and then you're in. Robin: Mind Bender. The power to turn assholes into nice people. Sheila: I'd like to travel time. I could sort some shit out with that power. Captain Do-over. But what this town really needs is Rent Control-a-tron. Do you have any motivational songs or foods before you write music together? Jonah: We eat gluten-free wasabi-flavored Japanese rice crackers before most rehearsals. Robin: Chocolate! Sheila: Sushi, Chocolate, never together though. Ew. Having transformed from just guitar and cello, how would you say things have changed dynamically as well as musically? What inspired the change? Sheila: The cello will only get so loud, you know. I'd say, &quotPLAY REALLY LOUD!!!" but still, not so much. Robin: We are much more hard rock now. We wanted to achieve both the qualities of solid density and melodic fluff all at once. Also the cellist didn't work out. Jonah: Obviously I have to say the band really needed a bass player. Took it to 11, dynamically speaking. What are the top five artists on your ipods/record players/etc… at this moment in time? Jonah: The Acorn, Low Red Land, The Besnard Lakes, Once Soundtrack, Flight of the Conchords. Robin: Tracer AMC, Kinski, Dump, Renminbi, GBV. Sheila: Battles, The Twilight Sad, Deer Hoof, The Big Sleep, Grandaddy. How many jokes do you get about people absolutely luffing you guys? Robin: A fair amount. Enough that we should make &quotI LUFF LUFF" tees. Jonah: I'm actually surprised at the amount of fans that find out about us searching online for information about sailing. It's too bad we didn't have a show together for Fleet Week. They would have loved us. Sheila: Yes, what Jonah said.

the three new yorks.

i saw this on the subway, up high above the handrails, most likely next to a dr. zizmor ad.

There are roughly three New Yorks. There is, first, the New York of the man or woman who was born there, who takes the city for granted and accepts its size, its turbulence as natural and inevitable. Second, there is the New York of the commuter — the city that is devoured by locusts each day and spat out each night. Third, there is New York of the person who was born somewhere else and came to New York in quest of something ….Commuters give the city its tidal restlessness, natives give it solidity and continuity, but the settlers give it passion.

this new york times city room blog discusses the piece today:

The idea of three New Yorks has prompted debates among New Yorkers, non-New Yorkers and people who wish they were New Yorkers.

Can anyone really claim to know New York, a city of eight million, City Room wonders? And just who is a New Yorker anyway? Commuters, settlers and natives? (Don’t forget the original natives.)

Incidentally, one passage in the “Here is New York” essay struck many for its prescience in the weeks after 9/11:

The city, for the first time in its long history, is destructible. A single flight of planes no bigger than a wedge of geese can quickly end this island fantasy, burn the towers, crumble the bridges, turn the underground passages into lethal chambers.

The E. B. White selection will be up for three months. The other selection, focused on science, is by Galileo.

Maybe there are three (or more) New Yorks — but sliced in a different way.

After all, a third of the city’s income is earned by the top 1 percent of its tax filers. For the state overall, every dollar earned by the top fifth of is matched by only 11.5 cents by the bottom fifth — the biggest gap in all the states. In Manhattan, the poor make 2 cents for $1 the rich make (on par with Namibia).

With the rising costs of housing, food, gas and the advent of a what some call the new gilded age, class — not place of origin — might be the true New York divide.

r.i.p.

it's time.

time magazine: delivering the important news...

the iphone's next frontier: porn.

i love grammar! (click to enlarge)

pictures.

here are some pictures i've taken with my phone recently.

from monday night's jeopardy. OOHH I KNOW CALL ON ME


from the cadman plaza post office.
that is a very unhappy and nervous broken machine.
looks like it's even a bit embarrassed.

is that how karma works?